Sir George Houston Reid: 4h Prime Minister of Australia F i r s t g o v e r n m e n t ’s H i g h C o m m i s s i o n e r t o t h e U K

George Reid was born on 25 February 1845 in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was one of seven children of Rev John Reid, a Presbyterian minister, and Marion Crybbace. The family migrated to Melbourne in 1852, one of many Presbyterian families brought out to Australia by the Rev Dr JD Lang Reid attended school at the Melbourne Academy (later called Scotch College) and later moved to Sydney where, from the age of 13 he worked as a merchant’s clerk Then in 1864 he obtained a position as assistant accountant at the Colonial Treasury, where he worked for the next 14 years

While working Reid studied law and in 1879 eventually became a barrister He transferred to the Crown Law Office as secretary to the Attorney General

In November 1880 Reid entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the seat of East Sydney, which he held until February 1884, and then again from October 1885 to July 1894 Then, from January 1883 to March 1884 he became Minister for Public Instruction in Alexander Stuart’s government

Reid was also a leading advocate of free trade, opposing federation at the time of the first Federal Convention in March 1891, believing it would force New South Wales to surrender its free trade policies In 1891 he married Flora Brumby and they had three children

Having switched to the King electorate, on 17 July 1894 Reid led the Free Trade group to electoral victory and served as both Premier and Treasurer for the next five years

Having reconsidered his views on Federation, in August 1894 he suggested the formation of a second Federal Convention to o t h e r c o l on i a l p r em i e r s , a n d f o r p o i n ting out t h e d r a f t constit ut i o n ’ s f a u l t s from a F r e e T r a d e p e rs p e ct i v e , w h i l e at the s a m e time maintaining he supported it, he acquired the nickname ‘Yes-No Reid’

In January 1895 the premiers met in Adelaide and decided to conduct a second Federal Convention. Beginning in 1897, the second Federal Convention met three times and completed drafting a federal constitution in 1898. On 3–4 June that same year, referenda in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria returned votes in favour of accepting the constitution, but in New South Wales the majority was insufficient for acceptance.

From 29 January to 3 February 1899 Reid convened a meeting of premiers that negotiated six amendments to the draft constitution to make it acceptable to New South Wales Key amendments related to the location of the federal capital and federal–state financial arrangements

During the period April–September 1899 referenda in all eastern colonies accepted the amended constitution and the Commonwealth Constitution Bill was subsequently passed